Drawer slide assembly

ABSTRACT

A drawer slidably coupled to a cabinet by drawer slides which do not jam or bind when subjected to offcentered opening or closing forces, each drawer slide coupling a side of the drawer to the case or cabinet through two rollers which ride along tracks; one of the rollers being wider than the other rollers to more clearly define the axial displacement of the drawer relative to the cabinet.

Unite States atet Inventors Robert R. Stein Mamaroneck;

Stanley H. Coe, Sloatsburg, N .Y. 853,323

Aug. 27, 1969 Apr. 13, 1971 Instrument Systems Corporation Nyack, N.Y.

Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee DRAWER SLIDE ASSEMBLY 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 308/3.8, 312/339 Int. Cl A47b 88/04 Field ofSearch 308/38, 6; 312/339, 340, 341, 343

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 946,151 l/l910 Patterson 312/339 3,416,850 12/1968 Hilsinger et al 312/341 Primary Examiner-Frederick L. Matteson Assistant Examiner-R. Lazarus Attorney-Howard C. Miskin ABSTRACT: A drawer slidably coupled to a cabinet by drawer slides which do not jam or bind when subjected to offcentered opening or closing forces, each drawer slide coupling a side of the drawer to the case or cabinet through two rollers which ride along tracks; one of the rollers being wider than the other rollers to more clearly define the axial displacement of the drawer relative to the cabinet.

DRAWER SLIDE ASSEMBLY This invention relates generally to a low friction drawer support member and more particularly to a slide for a drawer which will not bind or jam when the drawer is subjected to an opening or closing force that is applied to a side or corner of the drawer.

In cabinets or articles of furniture, it is not unusual while attempting to open or close a drawer to have it bind or jam as a result of the uneven application of an opening or closing force. Frequently, a wide drawer having two drawer pulls will be opened properly using two hands, an article removed from the drawer, and then using one hand an attempt will be made to close the drawer by pushing either on a side or comer of the drawer. In almost all instances, particularly when the drawer is relatively wide, the drawer will bind or jam on its slide and will not advance to its fully closed position.

It is an object of this invention to provide a drawer slide which will permit a drawer to be opened and/or closed without binding or jamming when the opening force is applied to a side or corner of the drawer.

It is another object of this invention to provide a drawer slide which is resistant to jamming and binding, and which operates with a minimum amount of opening or closing force.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a drawer slide which is resistant to jamming and binding, and which is economical to build, durable and reliable in operation.

These and further objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved, in general, through the use of two drawer slides, one on each side of the drawer, each drawer slide coupling a side of the drawer to the case or cabinet through two rollers which ride along a track, the transverse displacement of only one of the four rollers being closely defined relative to both the drawer and cabinet.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. Us a perspective view of the drawer partially cut away showing the channel structure, a cabinet being omitted to facilitate the showing of the drawer slide, the drawer being in its fully opened position;

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway top view of a portion of the drawer slide illustrated in relation to a drawer and cabinet;

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a portion of a drawer slide;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 illustrating a specific one of the rollers and its relationship to the track; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2 illustrating the other three rollers and their relationship to the track.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the various views of the drawing.

Referring to FIG. 1, a drawer having a front 12, a back 14, two sides 16, 18 and a bottom 20, is movably mounted to a case or cabinet 22 by two drawer slides 24 and 26. Front 12 of the drawer may have a centrally positioned drawer pull 28, or in those instances where the drawer is wide, i.e., 30 inches to 36 inches in width, the drawer may have two drawer pulls positioned at the ends or slightly in from the ends on front 12.

In FIG. 1 drawer slide 24 comprises a track member 30 secured rigidly to side 18 of the drawer by screws or the like, and a track-engaging member 32 having two rollers and secured rigidly to case or cabinet 22 by screws or the like. Track-engaging member 32 is positioned as close to the front of the case as is practical without being conspicuous, and still permit the drawer to be extended to its fully opened position.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a partial top view of the drawer, the case, and the drawer slide, the top portion of tracks 30 and 36 being cut away to more clearly illustrate track-engaging members 32 and 34. In FIG. 2 the drawer is in its extended or fully opened position.

In the drawing, each of track members 30 and 36 is secured by screws or the like to the corresponding sides of the drawer. Referring specifically to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, track members 30 and 36 each comprises a web member 38 having cutouts sized to accommodate holding screws, and shaped to permit some vertical displacement of the track relative to the holding screws for final adjustment. The lower edge of the track member is bent outwardly to form a lower horizontal longitudinal flange 40. The upper edge of the track member is offset outwardly to provide a limiting surface 42 spaced away from the surface of web member 38, is then bent outwardly to form an upper horizontal longitudinal flange 44, and is then bent downwardly to provide a longitudinally extending confining flange 45.

Each of track members 30 and 36 are similar in design and construction, track member 30 being positioned to project its flanges outward from side 18 of the drawer l0, and track member 36 being positioned to project its flanges outward from side 16 of drawer 10.

Continuing with FIG. 2, track-engaging member 32 supports two rollers 46 and 48; and track-engaging member 34 supports two rollers 50 and 52.

Referring specifically to FIG. 4, there is illustrated in clear detail roller 46 and its relationship with track member 30. Roller 46, which can be made of nylon or some other suitable plastic material, is provided with a spacer member 66 and a relatively wide perimeter or peripheral surface 54, two chamfered surfaces 56 and 58 being present on opposite sides of the perimeter. A centrally positioned cutout in roller 46 enables the roller to be rotatably supported by a shaft 62 having an enlarged end 64, which functions as a stop, and recessed within-roller 46. The enlarged end helps to define the axial displacement of the roller. Shaft 62 is rigidly supported by a plate member 60 of track engaging member 32 by any convenient means, such as riveting, welding, soldering or the like. The width of the relatively wide perimeter 54 is such that the roller just fits between and is slidably embraced by confining flange 45 and limiting surface 42, chamfered surfaces 56 and 58 providing clearance for the material present at the inside comers formed by the upper horizontal flange 44 with confining flange 45 and limiting surface 42. Spacer member 66 permits the confining flange 45 to embrace roller 46, and additionally maintains track 30 in spaced relationship relative to plate member 60. The relationship of roller 46, shaft 62 and stop 64 restricts the axial displacement of roller 46 relative to plate member 60 to a distance just sufficient to permit roller 46 to rotate about shaft 62 without having the spacer member 66 bind with plate member 66.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated in clear detail the roller 48 and its relationship with track member 30. Roller 48, which can be made of nylon or some other suitable plastic material is provided with a spacer member 72 and a relatively thin perimeter or peripheral surface 74, two chamfered surfaces 76 and 78 being present on opposite sides of the perimeter. A centrally positioned cutout in roller 48 enables the roller to be rotatably supported by a shaft having a stop 82 recessed within roller 48. Shaft 80 is rigidly supported by plate member 62 by any convenient means, such as riveting, welding, soldering or the like. The width of the relatively thin perimeter 74 is such that the roller fits freely between confining flange 45 and limiting surface 42 with more than adequate clearance. Chamfered surfaces 76 and 78 provide clearance for material present at the inside bends formed by upper horizontal flange 44 with confining flange 45 and limiting surface 42. Spacer member 72 permits confining flange 45 to embrace roller 48, and additionally positions track 30 in spaced relationship relative to plate member 62. The relationship of roller 48, shaft 80 and stop 82 restricts the axial displacement of roller 48 relative to the plate member 62 to a distance of approximately 0.03 l of an inch.

Rollers 50 and 52 are similar in design and construction to roller 48 and will not be further described.

Each track member 30 and 36 supports an upstanding tab 84, which cooperates with a horizontally projecting stop 86 supported by its corresponding track-engaging member to define the extreme open position of the drawer. A cutout 88 of the upper longitudinal flanges 44 and 45, located at the rear of the track members, permits the drawer to be removed from the case. This is accomplished by positioning the drawer in its most opened position and moving the front of the drawer upward to urge it to pivot about the most forwardly positioned rollers. As the drawer front moves upward, the rear of the track members move downward, and the rear rollers pass through their corresponding cutouts 88 to position the top of upstanding tab 84 below the horizontally projecting stop 86. An opening or outward force applied to the drawer will then remove the drawer from the case. The drawer is replaced easily by reversing the above steps.

In operation, track member 30 is secured rigidly to the leftside of a drawer, as illustrated, and track member 36 is secured rigidly to the right side of the drawer. Each of the track members are oriented to position the lower horizontal flange 40 at the bottom, and the upper horizontal flange 44 at the top. Plate member 60 is secured rigidly to the left-side drawer opening of the case, the most forward edge of the plate member 60 being positioned approximately 0.250 of an inch back from the front of the case; and roller 46 having the relatively wide perimeter being the most rearwardly occurring of the two rollers 46 and 48, supported by the plate member of track-engaging member 32. The plate member of trackengaging member 34 is secured rigidly to the right side drawer opening of the case, the most forward edge of the plate member 62 being positioned approximately 0.250 of an inch back from the front of the case. Each of rollers 50 and 52, supported by the plate member of the track-engaging member 34, has a relatively thin perimeter as is the case with the most forwardly positioned roller 48 of track-engaging member 32. Drawer 10 is then inserted into its opening in the case, the tracks being positioned to ride on the rollers. in this invention, good results were obtained with rollers spaced on 5 inch centers and having diameters almost equal to the inside distance between lower horizontal flange 40 and upper horizontal flange 44. The closer the rear rollers are spaced to the forward rollers, the greater the drawer opening can be obtained. However, less than 5 inch centers of the rollers seriously impair the free closing movement from any comer obtained with this construction.

In use, the application of an opening or a closing force to a side or even a comer of the drawer will not result in the drawer binding or jamming. The single full size rear roller 46 provides the pull tracking without the binding heretofore obtained.

it will be obvious that although track-engaging member 32 is shown as being on the right side of the drawer opening of the case, it can be on either side, and track-engaging member 34 will be on the opposite side.

We claim:

l. A drawer slide for slidably mounting a drawer to an opening in a cabinet, comprising a first track-engaging member adapted to besecured to a side of the opening and having a first roller and a second roller, the peripheral surface of said second roller being wider than the peripheral surface of said first roller, a second track-engaging member adapted to be secured to an opposite side of the opening and having a third roller and a fourth roller, the peripheral surface of said third and fourth rollers being substantially equal to the peripheral surface of said first roller, a first track member adapted to be secured to a side of said drawer to engage the first and second rollers of said first track engaging member, and a second track member adapted to be secured to an opposite side of said drawer to engage the third and fourth rollers of said second track-engaging members.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said first and second track members each comprises a web member having a first outwardly projection longitudinal edge to form a lower horizontal flange to provide a rolling surface for the peripheral surfaces of said rollers, a second outwardly projection longitudinal edge to form an upper horizontal flange to provide another rolling surface for the peripheral surfaces of said rollers, and a downwardly projecting longitudinal edge extending from said second outwardly projecting end to form a confining flange, said upper horizontal flange and said confining flange cooperating to embrace the top peripheral position of said rollers to restrict the axial displacement of said rollers relative to said track.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein said second roller is positioned rearwardly of said first roller.

4. The structure of claim 3, wherein said second roller couples said first track-engaging member to said first track with substantially no axial displacement, and said first roller couples said first track-engaging member to said first track with axial displacement.

5. The structure of claim 2, wherein said first trackengaging member comprises a first plate member adapted to be secured to a side of the opening, a first shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said first roller, a second shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said second roller, and said second track-engaging member comprises a second plate member adapted to be secured to a side of the opening, a third shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said third roller, and a fourth shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said fourth roller.

6. The structure of claim 5, wherein the axial displacement of said second roller on said second shaft is small relative to the axial displacement of said first, third and fourth rollers on their shafts.

7. The structure of claim 6, wherein said second roller is positioned rearwardly of said first roller when said first plate member is secured to a side of the opening.

8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the axial displacement of said second roller relative to said first track member is small relative to the axial displacements of said first roller relative to said first track member, and said third and fourth rollers relative to said track member.

9. The structure of claim 8, wherein the width of the peripheral surface of said second roller is sized to be embraced with sliding clearance within the channel formed by said web member, said second outwardly projecting longitudinal edge and said downwardly projecting longitudinal edge.

10. The structure of claim 9, wherein said second roller is spaced behind said first roller a distance of about no less than 5 inches.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,5'7HA21 Dated April 13, 1 .71

lnventofls) Robert R. Stein Stanley H. Coe

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the Claims Claim 8 Column l, line 51 Change 'said track member" to --said second track member.-

Signed and sealed this 3rd day of August 1971.

(SEAL) Attest: 1

EDNARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A drawer slide for slidably mounting a drawer to an opening in a cabinet, comprising a first track-engaging member adapted to be secured to a side of the opening and having a first roller and a second roller, the peripheral surface of said second roller being wider than the peripheral surface of said first roller, a second track-engaging member adapted to be secured to an opposite side of the opening and having a third roller and a fourth roller, the peripheral surface of said third and fourth rollers being substantially equal to the peripheral surface of said first roller, a first track member adapted to be secured to a side of said drawer to engage the first and second rollers of said first track engaging member, and a second track member adapted to be secured to an opposite side of said drawer to engage the third and fourth rollers of said second track-engaging members.
 2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said first and second track members each comprises a web member having a first outwardly projection longitudinal edge to form a lower horizontal flange to provide a rolling surface for the peripheral surfaces of said rollers, a second outwardly projection longitudinal edge to form an upper horizontal flange to provide another rolling surface for the peripheral surfaces of said rollers, and a downwardly projecting longitudinal edge extending from said second outwardly projecting end to form a confining flange, said upper horizontal flange and said confining flange cooperating to embrace the top peripheral position of said rollers to restrict the axial displacement of said rollers relative to said track.
 3. The structure of claim 2, wherein said second roller is positioned rearwardly of said first roller.
 4. The structure of claim 3, wherein said second roller couples said first track-engaging member to said first track with substantially no axial displacement, and said first roller couples said first track-engaging member to said first track with axial displacement.
 5. The structure of claim 2, wherein said first track-engaging member comprises a first plate member adapted to be secured to a side of the opening, a first shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said first roller, a second shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said second roller, and said second track-engaging member comprises a second plate member adapted to be secured to a side of the opening, a third shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said third roller, and a fourth shaft rigidly coupled to said plate member to rotatably support said fourth roller.
 6. The structure of claim 5, wherein the axial displacement of said second roller on said second shaft is small relative to the axial displacement of said first, third and fourth rollers on their shafts.
 7. The structure of claim 6, wherein said second roller is positioned rearwardly of said first roller when said first plate member is secured to a side of the opening.
 8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the axial displacement of said second roller relative to said first track member is small relative to the axial displacements of said first roller relative to said first track member, and said third and fourth rollers relative to said track member.
 9. The structure of claim 8, wherein the width of the peripheral surface of said second roller is sized to be embraced with sliding clearance within the channel formed by said web member, said second outwardly projecting longitudinal edGe and said downwardly projecting longitudinal edge.
 10. The structure of claim 9, wherein said second roller is spaced behind said first roller a distance of about no less than 5 inches. 